h2>Scripture
3 – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness-through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.
4 – Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 – For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 – and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 – and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
8 – For, if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 – But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever heard of the Battle of Thermopylae? The Battle of Thermopylae was the basis of a popular movie that came out last year entitled “The 300.” The battle that inspired this very graphic film took place in 480 BC, when Spartan soldiers held back the armies of the invading Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. The film gets it’s title from the fact that during the battle 300 brave Spartans held this pass against nearly a quarter million Persian troops. In fact they were able to stop the Persian invaders there for three days in one of history’s most famous last stands. This small force of crack Spartan troops was led by brave King Leonidas, and he knew that holding this pass was important because it was the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I of Persia could go in order to sweep across his homeland.
Since it is a fairly narrow pass and since these 300 Spartans were very skilled soldiers, they might have held out indefinitely, if it weren’t for a local resident named Ephialtes who betrayed the Greeks by revealing a goat path that led behind their lines. With the help of this traitor, the Persians attacked from the rear and finally succeeded in taking the pass, but in this three-day battle they sustained very heavy losses. In fact, the historian Heroditus tells us that, whereas all 300 Spartans died, they took with them over 20,000 Persians which means that on average each Spartan killed 67 enemy soldiers. Months later, the rest of the Spartan army assembled at full strength and led a united Greek military force that defeated the Persians decisively at the Battle of Plataea, ending the Greco-Persian War, and with it the expansion of the Persian Empire into Europe. So, in a very real sense, the Battle of Thermopylae, fought by those brave 300 Spartans, was the beginning of the end for the Persian empire.
I share this little history lesson as a segue to telling you that there are times in my own life when I can identify with this battle. There are moments when I feel like I’m holding a “pass” against hundreds of thousands of enemy “troops.” There are times when I feel overwhelmed and am so tempted just to throw in the towel. Can you relate? Are there days when it’s all you can do to keep yourself from just giving up?
Perhaps your “attacking Persian hordes” are your kids. You try to be a Godly parent. You try to teach them the things they must learn in order to be happy and productive in life. But raising little ones can be so hard, plus, when they get older the messages they hear from their peers and at school and on TV conflicts with your parenting over and over and over again and it makes you feel outnumbered. It makes you feel so ineffective that you think, “I’m obviously losing this battle so why keep trying? It does no good.”
Maybe your “Battle of Thermopolae” is waged at work. You try to make time for God and family but your job is just endless and demanding and every Monday it feels like your lines are about to break and you want to just stop and move to a desert island somewhere.
Perhaps you face times when you feel overwhelmed financially. On that day each week when you pay your bills it feels like you only have 300 bucks holding the “pass” in your checking account against hundreds of thousands of dollars of “Persian bills” and you feel like chucking the calculator, the check-book, and the bills right out the window.
Or maybe you feel overwhelmed by some secret sin that you have struggled with for years like the temptation to lust or gossip or drink too much or whatever. But this temptation to sin is so strong and there are times when it just seems easier to yield.
Perhaps your Battle of Thermopolae is fought against grief. You’re dealing with a scary prognosis from your doc or you’ve lost a loved one, a parent or a spouse or a dear friend, and sometimes it’s so bad that it’s all you can do to keep from surrendering to the despair that threatens to overwhelm you.
If you can relate to any of these situations, then listen, because this morning as we continue our study of the dress code of the Christian, we come to a garment of grace that is very precious in the overwhelming times of life–a garment called perseverance. In our text Peter talks about this situation we all face in one form or another. In my mind he infers, “Since you feel like quitting at times, in fact for this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith perseverance.”
In spite of the fact that this word is familiar to us, let’s not assume anything. So what does it really mean to persevere? What is Peter talking about here? The word we translate as “perseverance” comes from the Greek word, “hypomone” which would have literally been translated, ” stand your ground, maintain your position, stick to your guns.” You can see that in Peter’s day “hypomone” was mostly used as a military term to describe a soldier-like one of those brave Spartans-a soldier holding his position in that narrow pass no matter what.
In his book, Hidden In Plain Sight, which I am once again relying on in this message, Buchanan points out that it’s interesting where this particular virtue is placed in Peter’s list. Look at our text and you’ll understand why he says this. First Peter says we should add to our faith goodness. Then he encourages us to have knowledge. Next he admonishes us to be self-controlled. If you stop to count then you’ll see that at this point we are halfway-we’re at midpoint in the list of these seven garments of grace-and then, as if to remind us that halfway is only halfway, and that we still have a ways to go, Peter says, “Don’t quit! persevere. There are more garments of grace to put on, so don’t close the door to your ‘spiritual closet’ just yet.”
Another thing I want us to be sure and note is this-when we 21st century Christians feel like quitting, when we feel like abandoning our “post” we can be inspired to persevere when we remember what life was like for the first Christians who read these verses. As Buchanan puts it,
“They had a cartload of reasons to quit. These people were not having just a bad day, but a bad decade or two. Some of this badness was due to life itself: the usual round of upsets and hardships, sicknesses and setbacks .the sheer brokenness of creation. But most of their bad was due to one thing: these people had said ‘yes’ to God. They were Christians at a time when-and a place where-that was a dangerous and costly thing to be.”
Buchanan is right. In fact, the incredible hardship endured by these 1st century believers is seen in how frequently Peter mentions “suffering.” In fact, if you were to count you would see that he does so seventeen times in his first letter alone.
Let’s scan through them together so we can get a picture of the kinds of suffering our distant spiritual ancestors were enduring when Peter wrote these words:
- 1 Peter 1:1 says, “They live like refugees, like strangers in the world, scattered throughout the earth.”
- 1 Peter 1:6 – “they suffer in all kinds of trials.”
- 1 Peter 2:12 – “They are falsely accused, blamed for things they never did.”
- 1 Peter 2:18-19 – “They are subjected to brutal working conditions.”
- 1 Peter 3:13 – “They are punished for doing good.”
- 1 Peter 4:4 – “They are abused and insulted when they won’t join the sin of others.”
- 1 Peter 4:12 – “They are punished for following Jesus.”
- 1 Peter 5:8 – “They are harassed and threatened by the devil himself, who wants to eat them alive.”
- 2 Peter 2:1 – “They are surrounded by false teachers trying to mislead them.”
- 2 Peter 3:3 – “They are mocked by neighbors who find their faith naive and deluded.”
- 2 Peter 3:9 – “They are disappointed with God, Who seems to be slow in keeping His promises.”
And the truth is, all this suffering that they were going through would vanish in an instant if Peter’s first readers did one thing: quit, abandon their faith, or at least stop talking about it. stop sharing it. quit obeying God when it puts you at odds with an ungodly culture. Quit trying to live pure and holy lives. Quit believing Jesus will return. Quit worshiping. In short, if these people would just say as Peter did, “I never knew Him, I never knew Jesus,” then everyone would leave them alone. The “Persian hordes” would retreat and life will be easier. But Peter-this big fisherman who had become wise from his own failings and “quittings,” said, “I know how you feel but don’t quit! Don’t give up! Trust me on this one! persevere! Keep on keeping on! You’ll be glad you did because eventually victory will come!”
One of the first civil war battlefields that I ever toured was Shiloh-a battle that was fought on April 7, 1862 in western Tennessee. I went there with some friends when I was in college. I learned that the Confederates thought they would win the entire war with this one battle and at first it looked like they were right to make this assumption. When the battle started they so overwhelmed and pounded the Union forces, that by nightfall it seemed as though the Union’s only option was full retreat and perhaps, complete surrender. At this point, the Union’s chief military engineer, James B. McPherson, came to the Union general Ulysses S. Grant and said, “Things look bad general. We’ve lost half our artillery and a third of our infantry. Our line is broken and we’re pushed back nearly to the river. General, what do you intend to do?” Grant said, “Do?! Why, reform the lines of course! We attack at daybreak. Won’t the Rebels be surprised?!" The union did exactly that and the rebels were indeed very surprised! With this “never-give-up” attack, he Union snatched victory from the Confederates and three years later they won the war. At first, things were tough at Shiloh-but Grant was right. It was too soon to quit.
And that’s what Peter was saying to these early Christians. “I know it’s been tough and is tough but it’s too soon to give up, so persevere! Hang in there!” And that’s the same message the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to put down on paper for you and me. He’s saying, “I know its tough to be a Christian in the 21st century! But persevere! Keep following Jesus! Ignore false teaching and keep living by God’s written Word of Truth! Keep putting on these virtues! Don’t give in to the pressures of living in a fallen world! Keep obeying God!”
Now, you may think, “Okay, but why? Why persevere? What’s the motivation here? Why not just quit?” I want to suggest two reasons.
(1) Persevere because even though it’s tough at times, following Jesus is the only way to get where we want and need to go!
Anyone with a lick of sense knows it is foolish to persist for the wrong reasons. If persevering will get you nothing in the end, then by all means, sure-quit! Stop going the wrong direction! But if on the other hand, you’re heading in the right direction-if you’ve found the one road that leads to abundant, meaningful, purposeful life, then, persevere. Hang in there, no matter how hard it is to do so.
I’m sure you’re aware of the fact that the Bible often compares the Christian life to a battle, and with that comparison in mind we need to remember that the point of fighting a battle is to win. You don’t fight just to fight. You fight to win! Well, Peter is saying that if you try to live a Godly life in an ungodly world, if you try to truly make Jesus Lord, then you’re going to encounter opposition. But hang in there because you are following the right Lord-the only Savior-the only way to abundant life-the only way home to Heaven. In other words, the suffering we endure is not random. There is a point to it. There is a goal that lies beyond it. We must remember this as we endure hardship! When we go through tough times because of our faith we must remember that as the old hymn puts it:
“I must needs go home by the way of the cross, there’s no other way but this.
I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of life if the way of the cross I miss.
The way of the cross-leads home! The way of the cross leads home!
It is sweet to know as I onward go, the way of the cross leads home!”
The movie Rabbit-Proof Fence is the true story of three girls in Australia who were torn from their home in 1931 and taken twelve hundred miles away to be placed in a residential school. These girls were part Aboriginal and part white-and at that time the racist laws of Australia said that children like this were to be forcibly removed from their homes and families and educated under conditions of brutality, abuse, shame, and deprivation. Well, the three girls escape. But the only way they know to get home is to follow a rabbit fence, a fifteen-hundred-mile wire mesh fence that snakes along the wilds of western Australia. It is an amazingly difficult journey. They trudge through blistering desert. They evade wild animals and the police. They survive on the food they scavenge. But they make it. Nine long months later they return to a joyful reunion with their family. Years later, one of the girls, Molly, now a mother and pregnant, is once again taken captive and returned to the same school. She escapes again, this time with her children and makes the journey all over again but under even harder constraints. A journey like that, 1500 miles of walking through danger, only makes sense if it leads you where you want and need to go. Those girls knew that and that’s why they persevered. As old ladies, Molly and Daisy reflect on their life and decide that they would do anything; they’d do it all over again, just to get home.
Peter says to you and me, persevere, because we’re on the only road that leads where we need to go– the only road home. We’re following the only Savior Who can take us there. In 1 Peter 1:10-11 he reminds us of this fact when he talks of “.the glories that will follow.” our times of suffering when we finally get home to Heaven. In 1 Peter 5:1 he says that on that day we, “…will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” In 1 Peter 3:11b-13 he says we must persevere because, “We are looking forward to a new Heaven and a New Earth the home of righteousness.” As I said a moment ago, trying to live a godly life in an ungodly world is going to be painful at times. We’re going to have to kick against the pricks .go against the flow .it’s going to be tough. Like those 1st century believers, we are going to face hard times simply because we follow Jesus.
And this feeling is going to be intensified by the fact that we will be in the minority. Do you remember what Jesus said about this in Matthew 7:13-14? “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Jesus was saying like those 300 Spartans, we’re going to feel outnumbered-but we must hang in there because the narrow road is the only road. Do you remember when Jesus told the mobs that were following Him about the kind of suffering that lay ahead-and when they heard that, most of them decided from that moment on to quit? John 6:66 says, “From this time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.” At this point Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, “Do you want to leave Me too? Are you quitting?” And Peter said, “Lord, to Whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69) Peter was saying, “You’re the only way home Jesus! Following You, obeying You, is the only way to get where we want and need to go.” So in the struggles of life, when you feel like quitting, persevere-because it’s the only way home. There is no other way but this.
Another thing-many times persevering through suffering is the best path to the spiritual growth and maturity we all yearn for. Often hanging in there is the perfect tool when it comes to shaping us into truly Christ-like people. As James 1:4 says, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 5:4 when he says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” And Peter talks about this principle repeatedly. Listen to all the unique benefits of suffering that he mentions in his letter:
- It refines our faith (1 Peter 1:6-7)
- It perfects our hope (1 Peter 1:8-9; 1:21)
- It weans us from sin (1 Peter 4:1-3)
- It deepens our intimacy with Jesus (1 Peter 4:12-13)
- It trains us in holiness (1 Peter 4:16-19)
And then in verse 8 of our text Peter says, perseverance will be one thing that, ” …will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, hang in there as a Christian, because following Jesus is the only way to get where we want and need to go.
(2) But, in my mind the main reason for us to hang in there is because Jesus persevered in order to save you and me.
Our Lord persevered because He knew it was the only way to deliver us from our sins. Think of it. At any time, Jesus could have said, “Enough. I’m going back to Heaven.”
In his book, A Love Worth Giving, Max Lucado writes,
“When Jesus saw the size of the womb, He could have stopped. When He saw how tiny His hand would be, He could have stopped. At the first whiff of the stinky stable .at the first gust of cold air .the first time He scraped His knee or blew His nose or tasted burnt bagels .He could have turned and walked out. When He saw the dirt floor of His Nazareth house .when Joseph gave Him a chore to do .when His fellow students were dozing off during the reading of the Torah .HIS Torah .when the neighbor took His name in vain when the lazy farmer blamed his poor crop on God. At any point Jesus could have said, ‘That’s it! That’s enough! I’m going home!’ But He didn’t.”
Lucado is right, isn’t he! There were so many times when Jesus could have quit! He could have quit when His disciples showed how thickheaded and self-centered they were when it came to understanding His teachings. He could have quit when as John 10:20 says many people said, “[This Jesus] is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to Him?” Jesus could have quit when “They hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads.” (Mark 15:29) He could have quit when all of the men He had taught for 3 years fled the night of His arrest. He could have quit when He was beaten and spat on and ridiculed and put through all those mock trials. He could have quit when He was whipped within an inch of His life, or when the first nail was driven into His hand, or when the cross was raised and dropped into that hole in the ground, tearing at the wounds in His hands and feet. But he didn’t quit, did he? Why? Why did Jesus persevere through all that? Because He loves us, and as 1 Corinthians 13 says, “Love endures all things. Love perseveres through all things.”
Lucado recounts the story of Lee Ielpi-a retired New York City fire fighter. Lee gave 26 years to that city but on September 11, 2001, he gave much more. He gave it his son. You see, Jonathan Ielpi was a fireman as well and when the twin towers fell he was inside. Firefighters are a loyal group. In fact, when one perishes in the line of duty, the body is left there until a firefighter who knows the person can come and quite literally pick it up. Well, Lee made the discovery of his son’s body his personal mission. He dug daily with dozens of others at the 16-acre graveyard where those massive buildings fell. Finally on Tuesday, December 11, three months after the attacks, Lee found his son, and he carried him out. This father didn’t quit. He didn’t give up. He refused to turn and leave. Why? Because he loved his son.
The same can be said of Christ in an infinitely greater way. Jesus didn’t quit because the love He has for you and me is greater than the pain He endured in His life-greater even than the pain of the cross. Think of it this way. You and I were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were “buried” under acres of our disobedience and rebellion and yet Jesus still came-came to get us out. That’s why He persevered. That’s why He very literally hung in there.
Closing
This morning if you’re having a tough time and you feel like quitting, and you’d like someone to pray with you, then come forward. Bobby and I would be glad to encourage you in that way. If there are more than we can handle, I’m sure deacons will come and pray with you here at the altar. And, if you’re a Christian without a church home, if you’re trying to deal with the struggles of life without the encouragement that comes from fellow believers, then we invite you to join our church family. You will find friends here who stick closer than a brother-people who hang in there with you-even in the difficulties of life. And, if you’re not a Christian, then I would tell you that the words to that song we sang are so true. Only the way of the cross leads home. So, today, I encourage you to confess your faith in Jesus and commit to follow Him as Lord.